The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monza on September 5, 1971. This race is often referred to as the fastest Formula One race of all time, with a record average speed of 242.615 km/h (150.754 mph), a record that was not broken until 32 years later at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.[1] This race featured the closest finish in Formula One history.[2] Peter Gethin came from 4th place to lead on the final lap with a bold move. None of the 6 points-scoring drivers had ever previously won a Grand Prix.
Race report[]
With the championship settled, this was an opportunity for new drivers to prove themselves. Chris Amon in the Matra proved an embarrassment to Ferrari by seizing pole at their home track, with the BRM's on the second row, whilst champion Stewart was in 6th after suffering gearbox problems. Mike Hailwood was making his debut for Surtees—an inspired choice as he held both the Formula 5000 and motorbike lap records for Monza. Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari thrilled the crowd by surging forward from the fourth row to lead from Jo Siffert and Stewart until lap 3, when Ronnie Peterson took the lead. On lap 7, Stewart took the lead. By lap 16, Stewart and Jacky Ickx retired with engine problems, followed two laps later by Clay Regazzoni. The race began to break into high-speed packs—the leading one containing Hailwood (leading on his debut), François Cevert, Peterson, Siffert, Howden Ganley, Chris Amon, Peter Gethin and Jackie Oliver. Gethin, Peterson, Cevert, Hailwood and Ganley (who fell back slightly) battled right down to the line and all finished within two-tenths of a second within each other. Siffert dropped back after problems with a gearbox that would only select fourth gear.
Classification[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 |  Peter Gethin
|
BRM | 55 | 1:18:12.60 | 11 | 9 |
| 2 | 25 |  Ronnie Peterson
|
March-Ford | 55 | + 0.01 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 |  François Cevert
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 55 | + 0.09 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 9 | Mike Hailwood
|
Surtees-Ford | 55 | + 0.18 | 17 | 3 |
| 5 | 19 |  Howden Ganley
|
BRM | 55 | + 0.61 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | 12 | Chris Amon
|
Matra | 55 | + 32.36 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 14 | Jackie Oliver
|
McLaren-Ford | 55 | + 1:24.83 | 13 | |
| 8 | 5 |  Emerson Fittipaldi
|
Lotus-Pratt & Whitney | 54 | + 1 Lap | 18 | |
| 9 | 20 |  Jo Siffert
|
BRM | 53 | + 2 Laps | 3 | |
| 10 | 28 | Jo Bonnier
|
McLaren-Ford | 51 | + 4 Laps | 21 | |
| Ret | 10 | Graham Hill
|
Brabham-Ford | 47 | Gearbox | 14 | |
| NC | 26 | Jean-Pierre Jarier
|
March-Ford | 47 | Not classified | 24 | |
| NC | 24 | Mike Beuttler
|
March-Ford | 41 | Engine | 16 | |
| Ret | 16 | Henri Pescarolo
|
March-Ford | 40 | Suspension | 10 | |
| Ret | 23 |  Andrea de Adamich
|
March-Alfa Romeo | 33 | Engine | 20 | |
| Ret | 4 | Clay Regazzoni
|
Ferrari | 17 | Engine | 8 | |
| Ret | 3 |  Jacky Ickx
|
Ferrari | 15 | Engine | 2 | |
| Ret | 30 | Jackie Stewart
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 15 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 22 | Nanni Galli
|
March-Ford | 11 | Electrical | 19 | |
| Ret | 11 |  Tim Schenken
|
Brabham-Ford | 5 | Suspension | 9 | |
| Ret | 27 | Silvio Moser
|
Bellasi-Ford | 5 | Suspension | 22 | |
| Ret | 21 |  Helmut Marko
|
BRM | 3 | Engine | 12 | |
| Ret | 7 | John Surtees
|
Surtees-Ford | 3 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 8 |  Rolf Stommelen
|
Surtees-Ford | 0 | Accident | 23 |
Notes[]
- Pole Position: Chris Amon - 1:22.4
- Fastest lap: Henri Pescarolo - 1:23.8
- Emerson Fittipaldi drove a Lotus 56 4WD powered by a gas turbine
- Tyrrell-Ford won their first Constructors' Championship with 2 races left to go
- This was the last race ever to be held on the extremely fast, chicane-less Monza circuit. Chicanes made of tire-walls were installed for the next Italian Grand Prix.
Standings after the race[]
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References[]
- ↑ http://forix.autosport.com/8w/6thgear/fastestraces-laps.html
- ↑ All-Time F1 Records It should be noted that times in this race were only measured to the nearest 0.01 second, so the finish may or may not have been closer than that of the 2002 United States Grand Prix, where the gap between 1st and 2nd was 0.011 seconds.
- "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1971/522/. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
| Previous race: 1971 Austrian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1971 season |
Next race: 1971 Canadian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1970 Italian Grand Prix |
Italian Grand Prix | Next race: 1972 Italian Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1971 Italian Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |